Dry material agitating and measuring apparatus



E. E. HARPER April 2, 1935.

DRY MATERIAL AGITATING AND MEASURING APPARATUS Filed April 22, 1955 1.\I 'ENTOR. f/mer E. #017061? Patented Apr. 2, 1935 UNITED sr insane nay MATERIAL AGITATING AND MEAsL name PPAR TUS-,

Elmer E. Harper, Kansas ,City, Mo. Application April 22, 193 3," Serial No; 667,411

' i ,4 Claims. .(olg' ass-+31) The present invention relates to apparatus designed for the handling tofdry mate'r'ials. in granular form or in a more or less fine, coarse or lumpy condition, and hasparticular reference to installations using chemical materials where means must be provided for feedingand measuring such materials in the course of their use. i

It is therefore one of the purposes of the invention to provide a practical and efiicient arrangement for accommodating a supply of material in a tank, bin-or other container, from which the material may be discharged in measured quantities as required, together with means for efiecting a continuous discharge of the material from suchcontainer throughout-the period of operation until substantially all the contents are delivered to the discharge point or until the supply of material is renewed, .Atthesame time it is one of the objects of my construction to produce a sufiicient agitation of the contents of the tank to promote the feeding and discharging. of the material at the point or points provided for that purpose.

Accordingly, as one form of the improved construction, I have devised an apparatus in which means is employedto operate in a manner for continuously agitating and removing the .upper surface layer of the material, which operation is carried out in a, progressive downward direction, as the level of the material is lowered toward the bottom of the tank. In the construction illustrated herein, the agitating action of the feeding means is accompanied by a feeding action whereby the material is continuously conveyed to one side of the apparatus in position for delivery to a feeding and measuring device, with which the present improvements are designed to be used to constitute a complete unit or assembly for the feeding and measuring of such dry materials.

With these general objects in view, the invention will now be more particularly described by reference to the accompanying drawing showing details of such an. equipment, after which the several combinations and features thereof deemed to. be novel will be set forth and claimed' In the drawing:

Figure l is a sectional elevation showing a feeding and measuring apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the same; 7 I

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view, representing a section taken on the line 3-45 of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged detailedsection, reprefloor.

sentingfja section taken on the line 44 of Figure 3.

, In, installations of the character in question, Which requirelthe handlingo-f dry materials, such as chemical materials for'use in water treating and purifying systems, bins and hoppers are commanly provided for storingthe material in quantitiesto-cover the needs of operations for a given period of time; such as 24 hours, more or less.- Since the usual arrangement includes a device forcontrollingjthefrate of feed or discharge of the material into a chamber or the like (ordinarily termedfe'eding and measuring devices the hopperfis generallyof such dimensionsjan'd proportions most usually of conical forrinijas to providefor the dew of the material by gravity to-this feeding'jand measuring device,

which must accordingly be cit a somewhat lower level. Such a; construction: necessitates hoppers or binsoi considerable height and relatively small diameter and the use'oi agitating means is required inside the hopperr'to keep: the material moving through thesam'e continuously down .to the outlet into the feeding and measuring device.

With an assembly'of. sucha' height it is cususually isthe case, provide for supplying the material thereto from an upper storage room or From this it may be seen that installations tomaryltoprovide a platform from which to fill the bin or hopper from time toftime, or else, as

of this type notlonly require ample space facilities for theiriaccom'modation but also entail rela- 'tively high structuralfcosts, which it is one of the object'sof the present invention materially to reduce, or to eliminate as muchas possible.

Referring'to the drawing, I'illustrate the contaiher for the material asv a plain, substantially cylindrical tank 10, the bottom and side wall of which are shown as formed with an opening ll designed as-an outlet :to the feeding and measur- 7 ing device which may be of any desired type and inlth'e present instance is shown as of the rotary grooved disk type, following the construction outlined in my co-pending application Serial #649,- 808, filed January 2, 1933. Briefly the same com-o as determined by the blades adjustment, and thus delivering measured. quantities of the material intothe mixing chamber (not shown), all as explained in greater detail in said co-pending application. .7 1

and scraping function of the device.

Within the tank In is arranged a shaft 20, illustrated as of square cross-section and mounted in a bottom step bearing 2! and an upper bearing member 22 carried by the upper deck 23 of the tank. Mounted for rotary movement with this shaft, as well as for vertical sliding movement thereon, is a material agitating and feeding member in the form of what may be termed a. floating scraper device comprising a disk 24, having a square opening for the shaft 20 and carrying a pair of oppositely projecting and slightly inclined blades 25 designed to ride or float upon the top of the mass of material in the tank.

The blades 25 are transversely tilted, so that their forward edges, with reference to the direc tion of travel (represented by the arrow inFigure nected, by means of a drag link 28 for trailing purposes, a scoop or scraper member, one end of which is attached to the corresponding blade, as indicated at 3 I. V

While the full weight of the scraper device just described may be left supported by the mass of material in the tank, means is provided for counterbalancing more or less of thisweight and thereby varying to a corresponding degree the agitating This means is represented as a Windlass, comprising a shaft 33 supported by brackets 34 on'the upper deck 23 and carrying a series of drum elements, for operating a series of chains, including a chain 36 carrying a set of weights'31, and a pair of chains 33 let down within the tank for supporting a 'lifting bar 39 provided with an opening 40 rotatably engaging the hub ofthe disk 24, to which. is attached a keeper plate 42 for retaining engagement with saidrbar 39.. The chain 36 carrying the weights is wound oppositely from the chains 38, so that it is evident that said weights serve to counterbalance part of the weight of the scraper device without interfering in any way with the operation of the latter. The outer end of the shaft 33 carries a handle 43 whereby the upper device may be elevated and retained in this position by pawl and ratchet means 34 when necessary to refill the tank, for which purpose one side of the upper deck is provided with a hinged section 23' as shown in Figure 2.

..Any appropriate driving mechanism and arrangement may be adopted for imparting the necessary rotary movement to the shafts I 4 and 20, the arrangement herein shown comprisinga motor 48 mounted on the deck 23 and connected by a belt 49 to a speed changer 50, the crank disk 5| of which is adjustably connected by a link 52 to the arm 53 of a clutch drive device 54 attached to the upper end of the shaft I 4. By these drive connections an intermittent movement is imparted to said shaft l4, which movement is also transmitted to the shaft 20 by a sprocket chain operating around wheels 56 and 51 at the upper ends of the shafts l4 and 20 respectively.

In the use of the apparatus, the tank is supplied with a quantity of the material after first elevatto its fineness or coarseness, and the efiectiveness with which it is proposed that the device shall take hold of the material, since this of course will vary in a measure according to the weight with which it is allowed to rest upon the material and the digging, scraping and conveying function will vary to a corresponding degree. Different types or sizes and weights of scraping devices may be employed, with plow or digger elements to correspond, according to the different character of the material to be handled, since by such adaptation of the equipment it is evident that the same may be made to operate with practically any grade of dry material, varying in its nature from a fine powder to lumps up to an inch or more in diameter. Thus, as the material is stirred, agitated and loosened by the action of the floating scraping member, it is swept forward in the direction of the arrow (Figure 3) around the tank to the opening I I, and there discharged into the chamber |2,to thefeeding and measuring device.

f It will therefore be seen that a practicaland efficient arrangement and construction are provided for the purposes of the invention, and that the improved apparatus is adapted to eliminate the necessity' ofsome of the expensive features of similar equipment, such as therelatively high structures with their small diameters and need ofplatforms or upper storage rooms for loading thehoppers. Such accessories are not required with the improved construction, and it is apparent that it also makes possible the use of a tank of any desired diameter, according to the capacity needed. Moreover the operation is more convenient as well as cleaner, due to the relatively shallow character of the tank, since no lifting-and dumping of materials to any, appreciable extent is required which always creates clouds of dust in the case of fin'eand. powdered materials.

, Many minor changes are of course possible and desirable for adapting the improved construction to meet varying conditions of operation, and while I have illustrated and described one suitable and practical form of equipment for the practice of my invention I desire to be'understood as reserving the right to make whatever changes and modifications may fairly fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim. '0 be new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. Apparatus of the character described comprising a receptacle for'material and having an outlet for the discharge of the material from the receptacle, a floating scraper device mounted within the receptacle for scraping movement upon the surface of the material therein, means for counterbalancing only a part of the weight of said device during its operative movement while permitting lowering of the device during settling of said material, and means for actuating said device to agitate the materialand impart movement thereto in the direction of said discharge outlet. I

2. Apparatusof the. character described comprising a receptacle for material and having an outlet for the discharge of the material from the receptacle, a floating scraper device mounted both for scraping movement upon the surface and also for settling movement with the material within the receptacle, said device comprising one or more blades transversely tilted with reference to the top surface of the material, and

means for actuating said device to agitate the material and impart material-feeding movement thereto in the direction of said discharge outlet.

3. Apparatus of the character described com-- prising a receptacle for material and having an outlet for the discharge of the material from the receptacle, a floating scraper device mounted within the receptacle both for scraping movement upon the surface and also for settling movement with the material thereimsaid device comprising one or more blades transversely tilted with reference to the top surface of the material and a scraper blade trailed in angular relation to each of said first blades, and means for actuating said device to agitate the material and impart feeding movement thereto in the direction of said discharge outlet.

4. Apparatus of the character described com prising a receptacle for material and having an outlet for the discharge of the material from the receptacle, a floating scraper and materialfeeding device mounted within the receptacle both for scraping movement upon the surface and also for settling movement with the mate rial therein, said device comprising one or more curved blades transversely tilted with reference to the top surface of the material and presenting their convex faces in the direction of travel of said blades, and means for actuating said device to agitate the material and impart feeding movement thereto in the direction of said dis-' charge outlet.

ELMER E. HARPER. 

